Dust jacket with obi band, back and front. (Text translation: Behold São Paulo – a book – film that should be seen and read page by page – followed by a sequence of legends.)

Eis São Paulo – uma obra realizada e editada no ano de 1954, ano da comemoração do IV Centenário de fundação da cidade de São Paulo (Behold São Paulo – A work realized and edited in 1954, the year commemorating the fourth centenary of the founding of the city of São Paulo).

This is an interesting photo book in many respects, which, despite its (presumably large) print run from 1954 until the mid 1960s, is still relatively unknown.

It was published to celebrate the 400th anniversary of the founding of São Paulo. The city is presented as the dynamic and modern city of the future. This large volume is an exercise in PR, the sort of book which would be described as “propaganda” if it had been made by the USSR.

Many pages in this book are reminiscent of the style and mood of the classic photobooks of German photographer Dr. Paul Wolff. In particular it bears comparison with Meine Erfahrungen mit der Leica from 1934 and Im Kraftfeld von Rüsselsheim from 1940. Other pages surprise with departures into avant garde montages and hand-coloured photography.

According to the introduction, 200 (201) images were selected from a pool of 8000 photographs. The full-page-printed images are of street views, landscapes, city life, automobiles, factories, churches, nightlife, sporting & cultural events, architecture, historical landmarks, as well as portraits of important figures from the worlds of art and science. Captions in Portuguese are placed on the image at the top of each page. A slim index booklet with the captions translated into four languages is bound inside the back cover of the book.

Follow this blog

The books and catalogues illustrated on this website are not for sale. The images and written information are for educational purposes (ie. non-commercial and non-profit-making) only.

All written information is based purely on my own independent research. If you are the author or publisher of any work featured, and would like to contact me to provide more information or correct any errors, please write to: contact@achtung.photography